Mark Carwardine on Douglas Adams
"Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, this is an interesting world I find myself in - fits me rather neatly, don't you think?"Douglas Noel Adams wasn't even 50 when he died in 2001, bu...
18 Sep 201831min
Cherie Blair on Dame Rose Heilbron
For Cherie Blair, leading barrister and QC, picking her great life was simple – her role model is Rose Heilbron, England's first woman judge. When Cherie was growing up in Liverpool, Rose Heilbro...
11 Sep 201827min
Greg Jenner on Gene Kelly
Public historian Greg Jenner has always loved Gene Kelly. "So much better than he had any right to be."Born in Pittsburgh in 1912, Gene Kelly was a broad-shouldered Irish American whose first love was...
5 Sep 201830min
Patricia Greene on Bess of Hardwick
Actress Patricia Greene (Jill Archer in BBC Radio 4's The Archers) makes the case for Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, or Bess of Hardwick as she's more commonly known. Like her heroine, Patricia wa...
21 Aug 201827min
Simon Evans on JS Mill
Towards the end of his comic rant about the descent of man, Simon Evans does something very dangerous. He starts to read out to his audience an extract of John Stuart Mill. Potential comedy death? He ...
14 Aug 201828min
Erica Wagner on Roald Amundsen
"We are ready to take the Pole in any kind of weather on offer," wrote the Norwegian Roald Amundsen in December 1911. Born in 1872, Amundsen is part of a group of men - including the playwright Henrik...
8 Aug 201827min
Hanif Kureishi on David Bowie
"Suddenly this light comes into your life" - says Hanif Kureishi, referring to his hero, his great life, David Bowie. Hanif, an author, screenwriter and film maker, went on to become friends with Bowi...
31 Juli 201827min
Barbara Stocking on Catherine the Great
Catherine the Great assumed power in a St Petersburg coup, extended the empire into Crimea, Ukraine and Alaska. is Russia's longest lasting female ruler, and wasn't even Russian herself. All of this i...
29 Maj 201828min
